Although today, Serbia has export companies that are examples of knowledge-based economies, they are isolated islands, and many of them are already facing great restrictions today for future growth due to the departure of professional staff and the inability of the education system to In addition to classical knowledge, young people can develop other competencies such as critical thinking, problem solving, cooperation, effective communication, motivation, perseverance, creativity, innovation and ethics. In order to change its structure of economy predominantly based on labor-intensive industries, besides quality education, Serbia must also offer far better quality of life, which primarily involves ensuring values deriving from the principle of dignified labor.
“The future of work should be a topic now if Serbia wants to preserve the heritage of dignified labor within the new economy in the digital age. Therefore, it is important to focus today on how tomorrow these changes will affect the economy, workers and social processes, “said the first day of the conference” The future of work – the future is now “organized by the Center for Policy Research (CENTAR), an independent research organization (think tank), which examines the impact of digitization on new forms of work and work contracts.
“The first annual conference on the future of the Center is setting the framework for critical thinking of the factors that transform the world of labor and economy in Serbia in the context of the digital revolution and the new Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans and comes at a time when the Serbian Government is preparing the concept of a new industrial policy and smart specialization strategy involve determining those industrial sectors in which Serbia has a critical mass of knowledge, industrial capacities and competencies and in which it has innovative potentials for positioning in global markets, “said Branka Andjelkovic, co-founder and program director of the Center for Policy Research.
The gathering gathered in Belgrade by leading European and domestic experts, representatives of public administration and academic institutions, domestic companies that have long since sailed into the digital age, representatives of the start up community, trade unions and representatives of civil society were opened by Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, Minister without Portfolio in The Government of the Republic of Serbia addressed the guests and Jan Lundin, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Serbia, Stelian Nedera, the Deputy Coordinator, UNDP Serbia and Ingva Engstrom, Head of Cooperation for the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia.
Serbia, which simultaneously struggles with the three industrial revolutions – 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0, with uneven progress in enterprises, sectors and the economy, has a strong motive to explore the potential of the new economy in order to achieve the desired economic growth and sustainable development.
Some of today’s exporting companies from Serbia are at the same time the first examples of enterprises whose products are knowledge-based. In addition to the ICT sector and creative industries, this group includes companies from the classical industry sector whose products have advanced software solutions. Export of high-tech components has grown by 10% annually since 2009. Although this growth was not high enough to increase its share in total exports, and remained at the level of 27% of total exports, the net export growth was particularly high since 2013, with annual growth of 32% from 2013 to 2017).